Facebook Places gets a new location-based networking program to start working with. This should be great for the social site. The program, Facebook Places, is used on smartphones with GPS to help discover friends that are pretty close. Friends with each other can use Facebook Places to tag each other. Some people simply need a suggestion of where to go. Places can do this for you. Privacy is a real issue for Facebook. This is just an additional thing to complain about. It is fairly easy for businesses to utilize Facebook Places in order to advertise better. It could also be used by burglars and other criminals to identify targets. It is easy to disable Facebook privacy settings although it will continue to be difficult to keep personal details safe.
Facebook Places makes advertising with phones easier
Friends will automatically see all of a users info that is location based with Facebook Places based off of other networks like Foursquare and Gowalla. The New York Times reports that Michael Sharon, works for Places, says that Places wants to get a minimum of 500 million Facebook users to use this program. The Times found out that Facebook wants to work with small companies for the Places program. Google will be beat out if Places can work with numerous businesses like this. Both companies would be able to make mobile advertising possible. Corporations would do better if able to see where individuals will naturally check in with their phones.
Facebook Places privacy issues
Broadcasting the location of Facebook users and their friends at any given moment with Places for the benefit of mobile advertising comes off as creepy to Sam Diaz at ZDNet. Flagging things may be the only way to get things removed, even if someone else has put that info in for you. Tagging friends with you is an additional concern that he has. It would suck if your friend tagged you somewhere you weren’t intended to be. However, permission to be tagged by friends can be allowed or denied in Facebook privacy settings. Burglars could very easily use Facebook Places to their advantage. Knowing who is and is not home will make a huge difference.
Make sure you are safe with Facebook Places
For Facebook users who prefer to keep their location private, or stop their friends from posting it, Lifehacker provides instructions. Change your Facebook privacy settings to stop Facebook Places. Unfortunately, by default, your Facebook Places setting is already picked. It is set as allow locations. Also, Facebook lets you be seen on your Facebook page by default. You will be seen by anyone looking for users near them. Facebook has one other thing you should know about this default privacy setting. Friends of friends can see it meaning individuals you don’t know might know exactly where you are.
Additional reading
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/08/19/technology/19facebook.html?ref=technology
ZDNet
zdnet.com/blog/btl/facebook-launches-places-geo-location-service-thats-both-cool-and-creepy/38203
Lifehacker
lifehacker.com/5616395/how-to-disable-facebook-places
